November, I9l2. 



American Hee Journal 



western Colorado. The yellow variety 

 that I saw was of a shorter growth 

 than the purple and better known kind. 

 The yellow grows about 2 feet in 

 height; but in all respects except color 

 and heiglit is the same as the purple. 



A Bee-Keepers' Picnic in Boulder 



The bee-keepers of northern Col- 

 orado were invited to a meeting and 

 picnic at the home of A. F. Foster in 

 Boulder, Sept. 7. About 2.5 were pres- 

 ent, including women and children. 

 The day was a perfect one, and the 

 large lawn and abundant shade aided 

 in giving pleasure to the occasion. 



There was no program and no 

 speeches. But bees were the principal 

 topic, although automobiles for the 

 bee-man did take up quite a little 

 of the time. No bee-keepers can talk 

 very long without coming around to 

 the question of increase. As so many 

 in northern Colorado have lost a large 

 percent of their colonies, the Alexan- 

 der plan of increase was " trotted out," 

 and every one who had used the 

 method testified to its great value. 

 There is a tide in the affairs of bees, 

 which, taken at its flood, leads on to 

 fortune, and the Alexander plan takes 

 the tide at the flood in beedom without 

 a doubt. 



Much interest was manifested in the 

 sanitary comb-honey package, which 

 the writer exhibited. Considerable 

 criticism was made of the super, and 

 some said that the public would never 

 take to the package on account of the 

 cost. 



Buying nuclei in the South and ship- 

 ping them to Colorado was recom- 

 mended by some, and not viewed so 

 highly by others — depending upon their 

 experience with the plan. The ele- 

 ments leading to success with this plan 

 are reputable dealers to purchase from, 

 (|uick delivery at the time ordered, and 

 a favorable season. The past season 

 was a favorable one, and several in 

 Colorado had pound packages of bees 

 build up and make one super of comb 

 lioney. But increase in bees was rapid 

 the past season, and one could have 

 secured plenty of bees in the shape of 

 swarms and nuclei from neighbors. 



Perhaps the greatest attraction of 

 the day was sweet cider. About four 

 gallons of the juice were consumed by 

 the 2.J present. Those in the picture 

 with their coats ofY consumed the most. 

 The writer took the picture so that his 

 face does not show, but he also had his 

 coat off. 



launch in half picnic and half cafe- 

 teria style was served, each person 

 going to the dining-room and taking 

 what lie wanted and then going out 

 on the porch or lawn to eat. A jolly 

 time was had, and one of the men said 

 it was the best picnic or bee-keepers' 

 meeting that he had ever attended. 



Over 40(10 colonies of bees were rep- 

 resented at the meeting, and all present 

 were members of the State Association 

 but two, and they became members be- 

 fore going away. The ladies and chil- 

 dren I did not count in this. There 

 would have been a larger attendance 

 had it not been honey-packing time. 



Mr. Rauchfuss was expected, but 

 business kept him away as it did others. 

 A table with comb honey for his dem- 



onstration of the rules had been placed 

 under the trees, and there were sam- 

 ples there that some would consider 

 No. 1, and others were placed in the 

 choice grade. The line between No. 2 

 and choice was also one difficult to 

 agree upon. 



The more meetings of this kind that 

 I attend the more confirmed I am in the 

 belief that our associations should ar- 

 range for more. Bee-men can get to 

 these meetings who cannot go a greater 

 distance to the State conventions. 



A Cool Season 



The West scarcely enjoyed a summer 

 this year. Colorado had a June snow. 



and the snow fell frequently on the 

 high mountain ranges. Then again in 

 September, scarcely past the middle of 

 the month snow fell throughout the 

 whole State above 50U0 feet elevation. 

 The cold, rainy days of the summer 

 kept the bees from doing as they other- 

 wise would. The flow would have 

 been fine with a longer and hotter sea- 

 son. The same conditions were pres- 

 ent throughout the mountain region, 

 Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming recording 

 very similar experiences. But how the 

 bees did swarm ! It would be interest- 

 ing to know if cool weather and 

 swarming often go together. They did 

 this year at any rate. 



SOUTHERK 



Beedom^ 



Conducted by Louis H. Scholi-. New Braunfels. Tex. 



Divisible Brood-Chamber Hives 



Numerous letters are received by the 

 writer throughout the year relative to 

 the merits of the divisible brood-cham- 

 ber hives, of which we have been using 

 hundreds for the last 1.5 years. At 

 present our number of colonies is over 

 1500, the majority of which are in this 

 hive. We prefer it to other styles after 

 many years of trial, as we have been 

 able to be more successful with it, due 

 largely to the interchangeability of the 

 various hive parts which allow manipu- 

 lations that cannot be so well made 

 with deeper frame hives. It permits of 

 rapid e.xpansion or contraction of the 

 hive or brood-cliamber and the super 

 room gradually or as needed, besides 

 giving numerous advantages that can- 

 not be mentioned without going into 

 detail. 



But we wish to answer a few letters 

 that have been received recently, of 

 which the first is as follows : 



Pardon nie, a stranu'er. for asking ques- 

 tions, but 1 expect to use your system uuite 

 extensively, and want some advice as to 

 frames. I am using shallow Danzenbaker 

 frames, but have never tried to extract 

 from them, havint; raised only comb honey 

 so far. Next year I am k'oing in for extracted 

 honey, and do not know whetherto continue 

 with the frame I have or get the shallow 

 Hoffman for my new ontfit. 



Vour system has worked to perfection 

 with me-mucli better than Mr. Doolittle's. 

 That is all risht for a few colonies, fused 

 it last year and my bees started robbing so 

 badly that one could hardly pass the apiary. 



The main surphis is from black gum and 

 gallberrv. both of which luoduce very white 

 honey. Thanking yon for any advice you 

 may give as to extracting from shallow 

 frames. F. Ij. Hi'GGlNs. 



Wilmington. D. C. 



In line with the above letter is the 

 following letter from Monrovia, Calif. : 



1 notice- that you stiongly advocate the di- 

 visible brood-chamber anil shallow supers, I 

 have becnconteniplatini; adopting thatstyle. 

 but have been hesitating until asking your 

 advice. Most of our honey here is extracted. 

 Would you recommend the shallow supers 

 for extracted honey ? It is also necessary for 

 us to move our bees frequently, either by 

 rail or in wagons. Would you consider 

 divisible brood-chambers a drawback in 

 that case? We are seriously menaced by 

 foul brood, both American and Kuropean. 

 Some sav that if you have to deal with fonl 

 brood, leave divisible brood-chambers a lone. 

 What is your opinion ? Lkvv 1. Kav. 



Before answering the above it may 



be best to let the next two letters fol- 

 low, and then answer all of them, since 

 one answer, covering all these points, 

 should be of interest to each enquirer: 



For several years we have read with great 

 interest your contributions to the bee-jour- 

 nals. We wish to adopt your divisible 

 brood-chamber-hive system in broadening 

 our present apiary of lou hives. 



For economy, and because of excessive 

 freight rates to our distant sources of sup- 

 plies, we contemplate having supers for our 

 shallow brood-frames made. Our part of 

 the .South has cypress. Can yon tell us its 

 relative merits with other timber for con- 

 structing hives ? We ha\e experimented 

 considerably with cement, but have not 

 reached practical results with such hives. 



1 have looked through Gleanings in Bee 

 Culture. Bee-Keepers' Review, and Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal for the past several years, 

 trying to find an article from you on hive 

 construction, but cannot find such. 



Birmingham. Ala. (Mrs.) E. J. Brvan. 



Another letter hails from California 

 on the same subject: 



I have been watching your articles very 

 closely. I am an experienced bee-keeper, 

 and after selling out in California several 

 years ago I have traveled to see many bee- 

 keepers, and have worked several seasons 

 with some of the most extensive bee-keep- 

 ers. It is my intention to start in the bee- 

 keeping business again this fall, and I wish 

 to adopt a new- style of hive. I thc^nght hrst 

 I would start with the "Jumbo" hive and 

 use shallow supers, but f have been think- 

 ing of your system very strongly, and 1 am 

 asking the following questions for your cor- 

 rections: 



I will give you an idea of the kind of hive 

 that I would like to adopt. A lo-frame hive, 

 consisting of b shallow supers throughout 

 for each colony, the frames to havu the Can- 

 ada spacing device, by having notches cut in 

 the upper edge of the rabbets, and a nail 

 under the end rests of the frames. The 

 frames to be one width entirely, or the top- 

 bar, bottom-bar and ends to be one width 

 alike. 'I'en frames to be used in the brootl- 

 chambcrs and -s in the supers- the hives to 

 be marked so that the brood-chambers can 

 be easily distinguished from the supers, on 

 account of the difference in the spacing 

 notches in the rabbets of the supers and the 

 brood-chambers 



The bottoms shall be with Sj cleats instead 

 of the ->B as commonly used, anil the Colo- 

 rado telescope cover will be used, with a 

 canvas or sack over the frames to keep the 

 hive cool, and so the wind cannot blow them 

 off. 



I would like to see you and your manage- 

 ment of getting bees out of supers when ex- 

 tracting, and also how you tix up for bulk 

 comb honey, and how you put it up for mar- 

 ket. 



As no two men work alike, and as your 

 system is somewhat difTerent from the regu- 

 lar or standard. I would like to have all the 



